Solomon Kahn

Founder & CEO at Delivery Layer | ex Nielsen P&L owner | ex unicorn SaaS VP of Data | Host of the Data That Drives Revenue Podcast

I'm a long-time data leader, currently leading ReportingApplications.com, a consulting company focused on building - you guessed it - Reporting Applications.

Why Reporting Applications?

Because they’re tricky to build in ways that most companies don’t realize until they are live with customers and dealing with unexpected business problems.

We believe there’s an art to building great reporting applications, but not many people have focused on this area deeply enough to become experts.

By working with us you can benefit from our many years of lessons learned.

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Prior to starting ReportingApplications.com I was the founder of Delivery Layer - a SaaS product that powered customer facing reporting applications.

Before that I was VP of Data Strategy at Helium 10 where I led all things data (Data Engineering, Data Science, Data Product Development and Analytics). I previously ran product & analytics with P&L responsibility for Nielsen Sports, the global leader in Sports Sponsorship data.
  
Early in my career I ended up with the mix of statistical, business analysis and programming skills that would turn into the ideal background for a data scientist. Since then, I've been leading data teams, building data products and running data businesses.

My philosophy is that data isn't the hero - it's the sidekick. It's only valuable if it improves the lives of your customers, or helps someone make better decisions.

Get in touch if you need to build a reporting application!

And connect and follow along for lots of content around data leadership, becoming a better data person, and (of course) Reporting Applications.

Founder & CEO

Delivery Layer is a platform that powers revenue generating data through web applications and APIs that deliver your internal data to customers and partners.  
  
We dramatically improve time to market for data products. Enterprise scale products can launch in under a quarter, and consulting project front-ends can ship in days.  

This is only possible because we focus exclusively on applications that deliver your internal data to customers (as opposed to when customers send data into your systems).
  
Our pre-built infrastructure and unique battle-tested experience allows us to move at blazing speeds.

At a conference this morning, I gave an AI agent company my name, LinkedIn profile & phone number so it could create an AI version of me that I could chat with over text. So far "AI Solomon" has texted me nine times about meeting up at the happy hour later this afternoon 🤣🤣🤣

Didn't even try chatting me up first about reporting applications. Had to block the little dude...

Sneak peek into the future of runaway AI agents stuck in a loop!!!

Data Leader | Founder @ Reporting Applications | ex Nielsen P&L owner | ex unicorn SaaS VP of Data | Podcast Host

I'm absolutely certain that chat will be the data interface for business users in an AI world, because chatting "can you just pull some numbers real quick" HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE INTERFACE for how business users get data!!!

If you or someone you love need to build a reporting application next year, wanted to put ReportingApplications[.]com on your radar. That's literally all we do - we're a small consulting company that builds reporting applications (internal, custom and embedded).

That's it - not every LinkedIn post needs a hero's journey :)

Built dataGOATs.org Community | Simplifying Trail Stewardship @ TrailAdvocate.app | Chair of WCTA | Helping People Solve Problems with Emerging Tech, Storytelling, and Connection

Tomorrow, we'll be chatting with Solomon Kahn on all things analytics leadership, delivering value, and building things!

Won't make the live?  Drop a question here: https://lnkd.in/g5ecW6D7

Jonathan Maharaj FCPA

Aurora Financials

I'm a CPA in public practice, Virtual CFO, qualified statutory auditor, and business consultant. 

I assist senior leaders and Boards with governance, strategy, audits, and financial reporting.

Some of my key contributions include:

✦ Growing a client's business from 0 to 13,770 clients in 11 months, with no debt, no marketing, a 70% net profit margin and strong cash flow

✦ Bestowed with CPA Australia's Murray Wyatt Award for demonstrating innovation, a progressive mindset, and supporting the public practice community.

✦ Bestowed with the New Zealand Charities Services Tier 3 Reporting Award by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand for demonstrating excellence in financial reporting for a client

✦ Directed a client's financial functions and saved them over 50% in finance team costs.

Founder and CEO

CPA Australia

The Divisional Councils’ key role is member engagement and local support for CPA Australia and in helping to maintain the integrity of the designation. 

Divisional Councils are an important link between the members and CPA Australia’s Board and the organisation more broadly. Depending on the size and complexity of the Division, regional committee branches, speciality interest and sector committees or networks may support the work of Divisional Councils in member engagement and advocacy activities.

Individual Divisional Councillors act as advocates for CPA Australia and for members of the Division in their regions and spheres of influence.

New Zealand Division Councillor

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)

The ACFE Advisory Council is an assembly of 2,000 global fraud-fighting experts dedicated to the improvement and growth of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). 

Members may be asked to participate in quarterly member surveys, speak at ACFE events, write or review course materials, provide industry case studies and assist in professional development activities. Members have the unique opportunity to help the ACFE chart the course for the future of fraud prevention and detection.

Member, ACFE Advisory Council

New Zealand Pacific Union Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church

Tier 1 registered charity with subsidiaries such as Sanitarium, Life Health Foods, Adventist Development and Relief Agency, and others.

✦ Member of the Executive Committee, Audit and Risk Committee, Compensation Review Committee, and Health Endowment Fund Investment Committee.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church began in the 1800s and now spans the globe, with members in 215 countries and territories. The Church’s headquarters are located in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.

The New Zealand Pacific Union Conference (NZPUC) is one of 132 regional administrative headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. NZPUC cares for the Church in New Zealand, New Caledonia, Wallis & Futuna, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, and Pitcairn Island. This territory covers an area of about 35 million square kilometres and a population of 4.95 million people (2011 statistics).

As of 2024, NZPUC includes 22,617 members worshipping in 207 congregations (159 churches and 48 companies). The Union also supports 20 schools with more than 2,000 students, alongside one aged care facility, continuing the Church’s mission of education, care, and service.

The main role of the NZPUC is to provide leadership, mentoring and resources for the following entities:
✦ Adventist Development and Relief Agency in New Zealand (ADRA NZ), North New Zealand Conference, South New Zealand Conference, French Polynesia Mission, Cook Islands SDA Mission, New Caledonia Mission, Adventist Schools.

Executive Committee Member / Chairman (Audit and Risk Committee)

Kiwibank

I served as a Senior Leader and active member of Internal Audit Leadership Team, while spearheading team of five, including senior managers and managers. I directed and monitored the leadership and development of Kiwigroup's internal audit capabilities.

Some of my key contributions included:

✦ Headed assurance aspects of Kiwibank's transformation programme. 

✦ Managed work programme delivery and project management for business and technology audits.

Executive Manager Internal Audit / Head of Audit and Assurance

NZX Limited

In this role, I led the smooth functioning of the Issuer Compliance team actively participating in regulation of NZX's securities and derivatives markets. Furthermore, I administered diverse workloads, while offering leadership direction within broader team environment. 

I hired, trained, and led the management of six professionals, including lawyers, accountants, and compliance staff. Along with acting as Subject Matter Expert for accounting and financial matters in relation to NZX-listed issuers, I investigated, identified, and mitigated potential rule breaches in compliance with regulatory standards.

Some of my key contributions included:

✦ Attained best practice market conduct and governance by engaging with NZX-listed issuers.

✦ Successfully monitored high-profile investigations, such as market manipulation, compliance projects, and NZX’s enforcement functions. 

✦ Reduced operational loss by gathering/evaluating information on listed issuer population and delivering insights to influence behaviours. 

✦ Prepared and supervised cases referred to NZ Markets Disciplinary Tribunal (NZMDT). 

✦ Participated during review of NZX policy, rules, and processes related to compliance and enforcement. 

✦ Fostered key NZX relationships with FMA, RBNX, DIA, ASX, takeovers panel, NZMDT, and other NZX teams.

Manager, Market Conduct

New Zealand Qualified Statutory Auditor with broad industry experience in:

Financial Services – Capital Markets, Insurance, Banking, Finance, Investing, Stock Broking, Derivatives – Automotive – Education – Engineering – Healthcare – Information Technology (including Insurtech, Fintech, and SaaS) – Legal and HR – Manufacturing – Mining – Not for Profit – Oil and Gas – Public Sector – Real Estate – Retail – Tourism

Audit Practitioner, PwC and other firms

Optimist. CFO & Strategic Advisor. Follow for Financial Clarity. Ranked #1 in NZ and #59 Globally for Financial Markets on LinkedIn (Favikon).

Thank you for visiting my profile. I help leaders make better financial decisions with clarity.

For over 20 years, I've worked across auditing, consulting, and strategic finance - helping founders, executives, listed companies, and global brands to cut through the noise and focus on what truly matters. 

My work blends deep financial insight with practical strategy, helping leadership teams navigate complexity and move forward with confidence.

I founded Aurora Financials to offer something different: high-trust, remote-first advisory built on real expertise, supporting clients from early-stage ventures to listed enterprises.

My focus is simple: support leadership teams with insight, integrity, and the tools to make confident, long-term decisions.

Areas of focus:
• Strategic finance and decision-making for leadership
• Remote CFO advisory and business strategy clarity
• Turnarounds, restructures, and growth pivots
• Executive briefings and Board-level insights
• International Speaker

I also publish a free weekly newsletter and host a free financial masterclass (in production) - designed to give back and help more people make smarter financial decisions.

Based in New Zealand and serving clients globally.

Remote-first. Confidential by design. In-person engagements by invitation only.

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I work with leaders who know that the right insight, at the right time, changes everything.

If your next move requires financial clarity, strategy, and trust - I’m here when you're ready.

🌐 jonathanmaharaj.com | aurorafinancials.com

Disclaimer: The content I share is general information only and not financial advice. Please seek professional advice for your specific needs.

The ACFE Advisory Council is an assembly of 2,000 fraud-fighting experts dedicated to the improvement and growth of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). 

Members may be asked to participate in quarterly member surveys, speak at ACFE events, write or review course materials, provide industry case studies and assist in professional development activities. 

Members have the unique opportunity to help the ACFE chart the course for the future of fraud prevention and detection.

"It's only when you get the full picture
That you can understand what's going on."

Before you judge others, you need to see different perspectives.

We often judge a moment as defining a person, but that isn't the whole story.

What helps me:

1. Remember you don't see it all:
⇀ People go through unseen challenges
⇀ Pressure and pain could hide behind a smile

2) Assume invisible battles exist:
⇀ Mental health, family strain, financial stress
⇀ The quiet ones often carry the most

3) Lead with empathy:
⇀ Patience opens hearts and minds.
⇀ Kindness builds bridges.

In leadership and life, context matters.
People do too.

Keen to hear your thoughts on this?

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📌 Save this post for future reference.

Video credit: The Guardian's 1986 'Points of view' advert on social media.

Optimist. CFO & Strategic Advisor. Follow for Financial Clarity. NZ’s #1 LinkedIn Creator and #5 on LinkedIn Globally in Financial Markets (Favikon).

7 signs it's time to change jobs
(Even if others disagree)

I’ve met many talented people who stayed too long in a job because they ignored the signs their career was slipping away.

Change feels risky but ignoring these signs costs far more.

Your career doesn’t just need money but also energy, alignment, and growth for a job to be meaningful.

Here are the 7 signs it might be time to change jobs:

1. Curiosity Gone ➞ you stop asking questions.
2. Always “Fine” ➞ excitement has gone.
3. Weekend Fuel ➞ energy returns when the week ends.
4. Empty Praise ➞ recognition no longer motivates you.
5. Quiet Ambition ➞ your dreams feel muted or deferred.
6. Shrinking Environment ➞ leaders no longer inspire.
7. Body Signals ➞ your health signals it is time to leave.

Don't stay in a job where you are unappreciated and no longer grow.

What was your key sign that it was time to leave a job?

Let me know in the comments below.

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7 signs it is time to change jobs

Most teams say they want to move faster.
But end up staying in their comfort zone.

Zuckerberg built Facebook with a simple idea: progress beats perfection.

Here are five rules to help you copy that pace.

1. Ship when it’s 70% right.
2. Momentum is a strategy.
3. The 5-person rule.
4. Default to action.
5. The ladder of leverage.

Now from a finance lens, speed without clarity burns money. With clarity, speed can lead to compounding results.

Start with three key financial numbers: cash runway, weekly burn, and one growth metric you trust. Pick one project this week and apply these five rules.

Where does your team lose speed: perfection, meetings, or missing systems?

Let me know in the comments if these rules made a difference to your work.

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🔄 Share this insight with a decision‑maker.
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Mark Zuckerberg’s 5 Mental Frameworks for Building Fast

John Templeton’s Billion-Dollar Playbook:
7 timeless money rules for leaders and investors.

They’re simple to read and harder to live by.
But those who do, create value for decades.

Here’s the condensed version:

1. Lead With Humility
⇀ Humility reduces bias and builds trust capital.
⇀ Share credit publicly, own mistakes privately.

2. Seek the Unseen
⇀ Undervalued markets hide the biggest potential.
⇀ Allocate a test budget to explore the ignored.

3. Prepare for the Inevitable
⇀ Bear markets and recessions are certain to come.
⇀ Buy when shares are thoroughly depressed.

4. Stop Chasing Predictions
⇀ Markets are too complex to forecast consistently.
⇀ Use pre-defined entry and exit strategies.

5. Dare to Be Different
⇀ Average actions bring average results.
⇀ Host quarterly sessions to challenge consensus.

6. Ego Blocks Learning
⇀ Ego blinds leaders to life-changing insights.
⇀ Ask one peer monthly for honest feedback.

7. Trade Against the Crowd
⇀ Herds often move opposite to value creation.
⇀ Build your watchlist before the panic hits.

Templeton built wealth on courage and discipline.
Not by guessing the future.

What rules would you add to the list?

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John Templeton's Billion Dollar Playbook

Strategy punishes slow readers.

In business, speed is noticing signals before your competitors do.

Business strategy is chess in motion, with real money and real people.

A pawn move can quietly change the whole board within weeks. Miss that signal and you begin the next quarter already playing defence.

Strong leaders read the pieces, not just this week’s numbers. They spot leverage early and protect it before it becomes expensive.

“I’ll react when it happens” is how strong companies drift into weak ones.

Use the board you have: skills, customer feedback, time, and cash. Your playbook expires the moment the market copies your last good idea.

Here are seven moves I see resilient leaders practice, again and again:

1. Name every piece:
Build a simple strengths map, then match work to where people win.

2. Control the centre:
Choose two or three value drivers, then measure them weekly and guard them.

3. Advance with purpose:
Run small experiments, log outcomes, and let tiny gains stack up fast.

4. Connect your rooks:
End handoffs and silos so teams move as one line of attack.

5. Keep your king safe:
Protect cash flow, improve visibility, and stop funding confusion or hope.

6. Trade pieces, not positions:
Say no to shiny projects that steal focus, even with quick revenue.

7) Study the endgame early:
Plan succession, cross-train roles, and build exit paths while options exist.

After every project, do a short review: what moved, what mattered, what lied. One overlooked move is often the difference between progress and regret.

Which move would have saved you the most time, if done earlier?

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Stop copying Wall Street.
Copy Yale's quiet strategy that led to a 40% annual return.

I once met with a retiring Chief Investment Officer and was curious about his calm. His answer surprised me: he ignored daily prices and focused on the long term.

He trusted seven simple rules that were modeled on Yale's endowment fund.

In 2021 during COVID, Yale achieved a record 40.2% return. That number is not a typo. Check their 2021 report.

David Swensen of the Yale Investment Office summarised their strategy as:

"A rich understanding of human psychology, a reasonable appreciation of financial theory, a deep awareness of history, and a broad exposure to current events all contribute to development of well-informed portfolio strategies."

For me, understanding human behaviour, history, and market cycles can help to identify underperforming companies that have long term potential. 

I ignore the marketing and PR and look deeper into the numbers to find gems. That's the beauty of a turnaround - taking something others undervalue (and underappreciate) and revealing its potential.

Here are the seven rules, translated for founders, CFOs, and board directors.

Rule 1:
Play decades, not days.
Set ten-year targets and ignore daily noise.

Rule 2:
Own what crowds ignore.
Limit public equities and add truly off-index assets.

Rule 3:
Tag every risk.
Label holdings by driver and rebalance holdings monthly.

Rule 4:
Hire the best.
Keep only top quartile managers and replace under-performers fast.

Rule 5:
Run crash rehearsals.
Ask what-if, and cap single positions at 10% net.

Rule 6:
Guard one year of cash.
Park liquidity in short-term Treasuries and buy bargains during storms.

Rule 7:
Keep teams tiny.
Five sharp minds beat large bureaucratic committees every time.

The full breakdown is inside the carousel below, complete with sources and a one-page audit.

Choose one rule, test it this quarter, then tell me what changed.

Financial clarity is leadership clarity.

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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7 Strategies Behind Yale's 40% Return

Most companies talk about culture.
Zappos actually built a business around it.

They started in 1999 as a tiny online shoe store, competing against giants who had more money and brand power.

But they grew faster than expected, eventually selling to Amazon for $1.2 billion.

And the real reason wasn’t logistics or pricing. It was their leadership philosophy shaped by Tony Hsieh.

Hsieh believed people don’t do their best work inside rigid hierarchies. 

He believed small, empowered teams move faster than large, controlled ones. Culture wasn’t a “nice to have” but a crucial part of their strategy.

That’s why, in 2014, Zappos made a move no one expected: they eliminated every manager's title and replaced the organisation chart with self-management.

It wasn’t perfect and was unpopular at the time.

But the experiment forced a conversation every leadership team eventually faces: Are we building a company people work for…or a company that people work with?

In my own work across audits, turnarounds, and CFO advisory, I see a pattern: the companies that grow the fastest are the ones where the culture is supportive and power is distributed.

Zappos changed what leadership could look like.

What part of their story stands out to you the most?

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Zappos got rid of managers

This year has been heavy for many people.

Jobs lost. Plans delayed.
Costs up. Pressure at home.

And the hardest part is not always the money.
It’s what the pressure does to your confidence.

A tough month can make you forget a strong year before it.
A rejection email can start to sound like a verdict.
A quiet phone can feel like proof.

Your job title was never your worth.
And your income was never your identity.

You are not “behind”.
You are not “less than”.
You are not “washed up”.

You are a person carrying responsibilities in a difficult economy.

If you are still showing up for your family.
Still trying. Still thinking about next steps.
Still holding it together on the days you feel like you can’t.

That is strength.

You don’t need a perfect comeback story to finish the year with dignity.

Finish it with the basics:

➞ One promise you keep to yourself.
➞ One honest conversation.
➞ One walk to recharge.
➞ One budget reset.
➞ One application.
➞ One early night.

Small actions are how hope gets rebuilt.

If you are tired, rest.
If you are scared, name it.
If you feel lost, ask for help.

But don’t agree with the lie that a hard year means you have no future.

Your family does not need you to be flawless.

They need you present.
They need you steady.
They need you to keep going, even slowly.

There are still 32 days left this year.

Take one of them and make it your best one.

You have value - always have, always will.
Remember that.

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Quote that says 'You have value. Remember that.'

Charlie Munger never tried to sound impressive.
He tried to be correct.

Most of his thinking was about avoiding predictable mistakes.

He focused on incentives.
He read obsessively.
He stayed inside what he understood.

And he waited longer than most people were comfortable with.

What makes Munger interesting is how unremarkable his rules sound and how rarely people follow them.

These weren’t theories but operating principles.

Which one do you think most people ignore?

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Founder | Fractional CFO increasing profitability for businesses + developing future finance leaders | NZ’s #1 LinkedIn Creator | Featured in Forbes and The New York Times

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The Battle

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